Truck drivers are the latest workers to come under the radar of the European Commission as it seeks to build a more “social Europe”, with new rules designed to prevent drivers from lower-paid countries undercutting higher-paid workers when they travel to other member states.
A new set of rules introduced today (31 May) changes how the controversial draft employment law, a workers directive published by the European Union, applies to truck drivers. The proposal comes after a year of fighting between Western and Eastern member states over the published draft labor law, and has already caused an uproar over how it will affect truck drivers and the road transport market.
Under the Commission’s new proposal, truck drivers could travel outside the EU member state in which they live and would still be paid according to the rules of their country of origin for up to three days. After that, drivers will be subject to the local rules of the country in which they are delivering the goods.
The last-minute changes that led to the three-day rule suggest internal conflicts in the commission over the proposal.
An earlier draft of the proposal circulated yesterday (May 30) suggested that local wages and working conditions should apply starting five, seven or nine days abroad – but that document identified a seven-day period as the “preferred solution”. “.
The final version, which sets a three-day cap, represents a radical reduction from previous proposals and will satisfy Western EU countries that have pushed for tougher rules.
This three-day threshold is the Commission’s response to what it calls illegal requirements in Germany, France and Austria for companies to pay drivers the national minimum wage. The Commission filed lawsuits against the three countries.
If the Commission had taken a longer period of five, seven or nine days before applying the workers’ directive to drivers, this would have meant that truck drivers could deliver goods at lower wages for longer – which is exactly what happened in France, Germany and Austria. I tried to stop. The three-day limit gives those countries a better break than they expected.
Another controversial change in the proposal is to lift any limit on coastal navigation, or the number of different delivery trips drivers can take, during their first five days abroad. Current EU cabotage law restricts drivers to making only three rounds during a seven-day trip.
Germany, followed by France, hosts the largest number of cabotage operations, according to Eurostat data for 2014. Poland provides the largest amount of cargo delivered in cabotage operations by volume.
Newly inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron praised the published labor rules at a joint press conference last week with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, during his first visit to Brussels since taking office. Juncker has often repeated his slogan that workers should receive “the same pay for the same work in the same place.”
But the Commission’s attempt to crack down on low-paid workers outside their home countries has sparked discontent among eastern member states. A group of about a dozen countries opposed the draft labor law, which was proposed last year.
A Polish diplomat said that the proposal to limit a three-day period for drivers working abroad “is not a compromise.”
The diplomat said the Commission’s proposal represents “the risk of legitimizing protectionist measures taken by some member states, which will burden transport companies from Central and Eastern Europe.”
EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulk has indicated that she knows that the new transport rules may also face fraught negotiations.
“Of course we cannot perform miracles, but I think the European Parliament and the European Council are fully aware of the importance of this package,” Bulk told reporters before today’s announcement.
Under the new proposal, freight transport companies would have to foot the bill and pay higher wages early on during truck drivers’ routes from one member state to another.
“I think a longer period would have made coastal navigation operations more practical and more efficient,” said Stuart Colley, communications director at the International Road Federation office in Brussels, which represents those companies.
Drivers’ unions have taken a hardline approach and argued that even the three-day limit still allows three days of low-paid work. On a ten-day delivery trip, employers will still need to pay a higher minimum wage most of the time.
“What’s the difference between applying the minimum wage to 10 days instead of seven? This is actually an open door to unfair competition on the basis of labor costs,” said Christina Tilling from the European Transport Workers’ Union.
The proposal also would require employers to pay for a place where drivers can sleep during long trips abroad. Professional drivers will not be allowed to rest inside the trucks. The committee hopes the improved conditions will lead to fewer traffic collisions if drivers experience “less stress and fatigue.”
Members of the European Parliament and trade unions called on the Commission to intervene to improve working conditions and ensure that drivers are not forced to rest in their trucks.
“Right now, drivers are living in trucks for weeks, far from their homes and families. This cannot be the EU standard in the 21st century.”
The new rules also require truck drivers to manually record when they cross an EU border on a tachograph to help monitors at roadside checkpoints determine whether they are complying with the law.
Another part of the proposal would allow drivers to replace paper documents with electronic proof to show control units, which the Commission hopes will relieve drivers of tedious administrative work.
